Rachel's Christmas present
by alison11hsm
Summary: There will be a companion piece hopefully by New Years. Happy Holidays!


The jewelry shop had just opened and Avi was already bored. Business had been off this year and so far the holiday season had been slow, too, although traditionally the last two days before Christmas were their best as forgetful husbands and boyfriends scrambled to find expensive baubles that would repay for all the late nights at work. Most of their customers were lawyers.

He was staring disinterestedly out the window when two attractive blondies came into sight moving quickly in the morning cold. Please, please, please, he focused his mind on trying to will them into the store. He strongly believed in the power of the will so he was delighted when they turned toward the door and were buzzed in. Getting them to come to him was not as difficult as he was younger by a dozen years than the others and still had all his hair. The taller blondie with the long curly hair caught his eye and headed over, pulling along her more reluctant friend.

"This is so tacky" he heard the shorter one hiss to her friend. By the time they got to him he had summed them up. They were not dressed in the designer clothes that a woman with either her own or her husband's money would wear when shopping for something to impress her friends with. So they were most likely to be scouting out what they would none too subtly advise their mates to buy for them or they were coming in to have a presents worth evaluated. From the shorter one's demeanor he guessed the latter. That was good, the taller one was much more to his liking, and perhaps she was unattached and might be interested in a man who had access to expensive jewelry. He was not cynical; he liked woman very much. But he was Israeli and very pragmatic.

"Ladies, what can I show you today? We have many beautiful rings. Certainly there is one that would complement your New Years eve gown." His accent was silky and his English charmingly imperfect.

Jasmine was already bent over the case oooing and ahhhing over all the pretty trinkets, seeming to have already forgotten the purpose of the mission on which she had dragged Rachel. Rachel caught Avi's eye and shook her head as he reached for a tray of rings.

She hadn't smiled yet and Avi was reminded of some of the girls he had been with during his military service. As his friend Yakov put it they could "eat metal and spit out nails". This one seemed like that. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a necklace that she deposited on the suede mat on the counter.

" I need an appraisal on this." she said flatly.

"For insurance purposes." added Jasmine, earning herself a dirty look, which she ignored.

It was a pearl pendant on a silver necklace and at first glance Avi thought it was one of those trifles that people overpaid for in the heat of their Hawaiian vacations. He picked it up to examine it more closely and realized that it was far more than that.

The pearl itself was about 15mm, round or nearly round. The color was unusual, a light grayish blue. He was sure that it wasn't a composite and assumed it was cultured but he had no idea whether it had been dyed or not. Instead of the usual cap the mount consisted of three gently looping tendrils of what he guessed to be white gold. They were each of different lengths, the longest and the next longest were the furthest apart and when you looked at the pendant from that side almost framed the pearl. On the other side the shortest tendril looped close to the top of the pearl. Near the top of that one was a tiny diamond. At the top all three pieces came together and twisted to form the bail.

Avi came from generations of diamond dealers, cutters and jewelers and he knew a great deal about diamonds and other precious stones but almost nothing about pearls. But his jeweler's eye could see that this was something out of the ordinary. He picked up a loupe to examine the pendant more closely and saw to his surprise that the mount was made in such a way that the pearl was safely enclosed but had not been drilled. He could even turn it a little. The pearl itself, while seeming round had a small ripple that circled it about halfway around. This made the pearl a baroque and less valuable but it seemed to Avi that being imperfect increased its beauty, gave it character. It was the color that made it spectacular. It reminded him of the sky over the sea right after a storm has passed. Soft gray becoming blue just before the harshness of the sun's full light returned. As he turned it he could sometimes see a faint lavender iridescence. The little diamond wasn't even a quarter point but was clear and clean and cut to be very refractive.

Finally he looked up at the two women. Curly blondie started to speak but tough blondie stopped her with a nudge and said simply: "Well?"

Avi knew he lacked the knowledge to provide her with the value of the piece and she had the air of someone who would be impossible and perhaps dangerous to bullshit. He sighed, it hurt his pride but he had to go for the big gun, as they say. He looked across the store to see where his uncle was and found the older man's eyes already upon him. Avi made the smallest of nods and his uncle came over. He was taller than Avi, and looked very elegant in a custom made Italian suit.

He gave them each a good morning and a deep nod, introduced himself as Yakov (big elbow jab from Jasmine) then picked up the necklace and the loupe and went to work. Rachel felt like screaming at the length of time this was taking. She had promised Hood before he left for Hawaii that she wouldn't open the package until Christmas day which was still three days away. But when her college buddy Jasmine came by to go shopping and saw the small wrapped package that screamed Jewelry! Rachel allowed herself to be coerced into opening it. Honestly, there was no way she was holding out until Christmas but she had thought she could make it at least 24 hours. The necklace was stunning, easily the most beautiful and expensive thing she had ever been given. It suited her perfectly and she immediately realized that she could wear it with the diamond side out or in depending on the occasion. Her heart hammered and her mind raced when she thought about what this meant about Hood's feelings for her. She knew he found her attractive but she had seen him notice other women too. And there was Anna in California, who she had taken an active dislike to. Hood didn't go out there very often but when he did he chose to go alone.

She wasn't that interested in how much the piece had cost because she knew Hood easily had the money to pay for an expensive necklace. Jewelry was to her a very personal gift but you never knew where Hood was coming from. His second choice might have been a blender. Anyway Jasmine had come up with the insurance value gambit so here she stood feeling somewhat embarrassed.

Yakov finally put down the loupe and spoke to Rachel.

" My lady would you tell me about how this came to you?"

Rachel was confused by the nature of the question until she saw Avi, who was standing behind his uncle mime a square shape

" Oh, it was in a wooden box with a sliding top, and the necklace was in a silk pouch inside."

Yakov nodded as if that was what he expected to hear.

" Alright my lady, I will tell you what I see of this. All pearls of some consequence come from the East. I cannot tell you where this one grew but I can tell you that it was not Tahitian. I can tell you that it is not a false pearl formed of nacre and resins and then made colored. I can tell you that I incline to think this a cultured pearl because the real pearls this size are of an impossibility rare and costly. Here you no doubt see this bump around it. This is a technicality that makes of this a baroque pearl and these are most of lesser value than perfect pearls. This is only usually but I don't have a worry of that in this pearl as because the value here is in the amazing tonals."

He paused for air and Avi spoke to him in a foreign language that sounded more like Russian than Hebrew. Yakov nodded and blotted his forehead with his pocket square.

Avi informed them that from here on in he would be translating for his uncle. There was a collective sigh of relief. Avi informed them that Yakov believed that the pendant was from Japan. He based his opinion on the rare qualities of the pearl, the elegant simplicity of the design, and the high standard of workmanship in the metal craft. Not to mention the box, which was a dead giveaway.

Rachel nodded. Hood had been to Japan recently. He had taken Felix, who was thrilled to be taken on such a long trip to a very foreign country. Rachel was less thrilled when Felix gave her running updates about how the doc "loved to drink sake and party" with one of his fellow scientists of a more hedonistic nature.

The chain, which had thin, long links was made of platinum; possibly antique. The pendant he had first assumed was made of white gold but now he was inclined to believe it was made from stainless steel. Even Avi was surprised by that, it was a metal rarely found in jewelry of any price. He had a short exchange with Yakov and then turned back to Rachel and Jasmine.

"My uncle says that the Japanese give much thought about materials that they use. Ah, they consider the meaning of their materials through their various characters. Also it is important to consider the spiritual properties of who they are intended for. And they have much experience in working of steel for armaments." He shrugged.

Even with Avi's fractured English Rachel got the point. She exchanged a look with Jasmine. Had Hood thought it through that far? Was it coincidence or symbolic that the metal used was steel? She wondered if she should ask him. Well at least she wouldn't have to polish it.

Yakov was looking at the necklace with the loupe again and and as he put it down he laughed loudly and gave Avi a nudge that knocked him sideways. He was talking to Avi through his laughter and smiled a little sheepishly at the girls. After Avi had looked at the necklace he gave it to Rachel along with the loupe and directed her attention to a small tag attached to the clasp. Rachel had assumed that it was stamped 14K or something like that but it wasn't. Instead it had 6 tiny symbols in Japanese, three on each side, etched on it.

Avi spoke, " My uncle said that if his eyes were better he would have noticed the Japanese writing sooner." He decided not to tell the girls what he had said about Avi's eyesight and how it was affected by the nearness of lovely ladies.

" He thinks it might be information about the craftsman who made the piece but you will have to find a translator to be sure."

Yakov had been watching Rachel. She was tense, maybe nervous. She had no rings so the necklace hadn't come from a husband. He spoke to Avi.

Avi hesitated a moment before he translated.

" My uncle would like to know, is this is a present from your boyfriend?"

Rachel was about to make reply that it was far too personal a question for her to answer but she looked at the older man and could only see a benign disinterested curiosity in his eyes. She shook her head no.

Yakov thought about this. He hated giving valuations in circumstances like this. He felt that by telling this beautiful young woman how much was spent on her that he was in some way telling her how grateful she should be to the man who gave her this gift. The gift was certainly very expensive, hugely expensive if the pearl was natural or the jeweler was a famous craftsman. But it was also obvious that great care had been taken in its making, which implied that there had been much thought about who it was intended for. Three pairs of eyes were watching him with suspense. He sighed and spoke to Avi at some length.

"My uncle says that the man who gave you this may not be your boyfriend but that he would like to be." Rachel blushed. " He says that it is impossible to tell the worth of this because it is unique; he has nothing to compare it to. It is certainly quite expensive and if it is a natural pearl would be even more so. But it would have to be scanned to find out which is very expensive and we don't do that here. He suggests that you not insure it. He worries about bad people who might hack into insurance company files." This was the first that Avi had ever heard that one but he just repeated what he had been told. " He thinks that you should this keep it in deposit box when you don't wear it for long time, but that you should wear it often because it is so beautiful." Yakov spoke again." One more thing, if you should ever desire to sell this please come to us. We will give you best price."

Which would be what? Rachel wondered. But she certainly wasn't ever selling it so it was a moot point. Avi and Jasmine were exchanging business cards so she turned to gather up her things to find Yakov standing beside her holding up the necklace , obviously wanting to put it on her. She would have wanted Hood to be the first to do that but she didn't have the heart to refuse him so she bent her neck while he fastened it. He held up a mirror and she straightened it. God, it was beautiful and she noticed that it made her eyes look bluer. Yakov murmured something that needed no translation.


End file.
